SA Athlete Makes History with 1st Youth Olympic Games Medal

Gazelle Magerman (RSA) improved on her top place qualification time by 0.66s to take the gold in the women’s 400m hurdles at the 2nd Youth Olympic Games on Monday.

improved on her top place qualification time by 0.66s to take the gold

Magerman finished the race in 57.91s, followed by Michaela Peskova (SVK) and Anne Sofie Fruerskov Kirkegaard (DEN). The Dane finished third in the qualification heat with Magerman, but shaved off more than a second off her qualification time to take the bronze in the final.

"I was aiming to break my 58 at first, and then I got my 57 so I’m quite happy,” Magerman said after the race.

“I actually wanted to catch them by the last bend, but it didn’t happen so I had a little bit of energy left so I just said ‘Gezelle just push yourself to the limit and feed off the crowd’s energy.”

“I was really confident and now I’m really, really happy.”

But she was overtaken by a runner from South Africa to the finish line

Peskova had a steady pace in the race and shot out to take the lead in the last 100m. But she was overtaken by a runner from South Africa to the finish line, despite posting her personal best time of 58.26s, which is also the Slovakian junior national record.

“It is not a good feeling to come in second after leading near the end of the race, but there’s nothing I can do about it now,” Peskova said. “I will just have to train more.”

Eileen Demes (GER), who came second in Magerman’s head in the qualifications and was one of the medal contenders, fell down on the last hurdle and finished last in the race.